What a fun Weekend!

What a busy weekend it's been but so much fun. Erin and Mark came up from Nashville so Mark could do the trial "run" of the Louisville Ironman that he'll be doing in August. Since I knew they'd be in town, Erin, Laura and I plotted and planned a surprise 60th birthday party for my mom.

We gathered friends and family at our house and I told my mom to come over to cook out Saturday night. She kept trying to come over early so I sent her to the store to pick up some milk for Andrew to stall her a bit.

See? She's even got that grocery bag in her hand as she walked in to a houseful of people!

 Vicky, Gail and me lighting 60 candles on  her cakes (make that 59...my mom removed one as she wasn't technically 60 yet and felt we were pushing her into the next decade a bit too soon)

Holding their boys

 Granna, can I please play with that crazy birthday hat?

 

 Me, my mom and Laura with our Aunt Shara and Uncle Kenny

 Porch dining!

 

The brothers-in-law on the patio. Thanks Josh and Nate for grilling 30 burgers!

Drew was attached to her all night! 

So even though my mom's 60th isn't for another week, we had a great time with everyone celebrating early. Happy early birthday Mom!

Happy 4th!

 Our 4th of July started with 2 visitors...Nate's dad and Grandma stopped by for a few hours and got their Andrew fix!

 He loves his "Grand-diddy"

Darryl brought a toy dog that Nate had owned when he was little and it was a hit! I love how Nate's mom has saved so many of Nate's clothes and toys. It is so sweet to see Drew get to use them.

 The weekend was really busy and we had several cookouts on Sunday. I took zero pictures at either one, but that is probably good because at BOTH places, Drew fell while walking/crawling and bumped his lip. Oh, there were tears and blood and it was not a pretty sight. So he had battle wounds from both parties, with a cuts on both sides to match. How he managed to repeat the injury at party # 2 I have no idea! But it was nothing a little ice cream couldn't cure.

 Sitting with Dad at the Crescent Hill 4th of July Festival our neighborhood has every year. It is such a fun event with an art fair, music, food, etc.  We met some friends of ours from church there (Mary and Noah and their kids) and saw my parents too. Mary and I took the boys (hers is a few months older than Drew) over to the children's music tent where they banged away on tambourines and such. It was such a cute sight and I wish I'd taken a picture. I'm  not doing too well with my  photo-taking lately!

 But I did manage to snap one of Andrew eating the first blackberries of the season straight off the bush!

Just look at that face...what a  mess!

Weekend visitor

Nate's mom was able to stop by this weekend for a very short but much appreciated visit.

 Look at that smile! He loves his Omi!

We ate outside at Impellizerri's Pizza. Drew officially loves pizza and breadsticks now...no surprise there!

Here is a short video I took of Drew trying to walk. He's got about 5 to 10 steps down but isn't completely there yet! Something tells me that I really won't be able to keep up with him once he starts walking though!

Grayton Beach Vacation

This past week my entire family headed to Grayton Beach, Florida for vacation. My dad had been planning this for 2 years now and we finally were all able to be in one place at once!  

The weather was perfect, the water was warm...couldn't ask for more!

 

This is the very old house we stayed in. It was built in the 1800's and had 2 huge wrap-around porches that we practically lived on when we weren't living on the beach. In my opinion, there is nothing better than drinking coffee, reading, eating dinner and talking with some of your favorite people all while looking at the ocean!

Andrew loved the beach, no surprise there. He tried endlessly to walk on the sand, played in the water and of course his baby pool. There was no shortage of attention with all his aunts and uncles around, that's for sure!

 Erin and I relaxing on the beach:

Andrew trying to walk...he took a few steps on his own here and there but is still working on it!

Aunt Erin was happy to help with the walking too...and Nate built a sandcastle for Drew to play in.

But sometimes he was just as happy in a bucket!

What's a beach vacation without ice cream on the deck? 

As I said before, Andrew got lots of attention from Laura and Erin! I very much enjoyed the extra helping hands too.

The water was perfect for floating. Check out that raft with the sun shade and all...that's the life!

Andrew and Granna

My dad helping him walk around on the deck.

Uncle Mark knows how to make a plastic cup interesting. When he got bored with his toys, we did what we could to keep him busy!

In the evening we took some beach photos...no kaki and white coordinated outfits much to Nate's disappointment:)

One of the best seafood meals I've had...the Red Bar at Grayton Beach. So good!

We walked around Seaside one evening too.

The baby pool sure came in handy!

For adults as well as babies!

Erin, Laura and me

Trying to dig a hole with a shovel about the size of him!

This was one of the best weeks we've had in awhile and my parents are so kind and generous to plan and take us on this trip. It is not often all of us are in one place with no "agenda" other than just hanging out and I think we need to do it more often!

Friends

 Friday I was able to get together with Mary and Amanda...the occasion: meeting Emmylou! Amanda and Matt were in Louisville visiting her family and of course we had to arrange for us all to get together like old times. I know I've written before about my friendship with these two but they are such a blessing. We have seen each other through all the phases of life, good and bad, and have so many memories together. It's crazy to think how we all have kids now and I hope to watch them all grow up together like we did.

 

 We played outside in the water because it was HOT out.

 Angelina and Andrew were best buds.  They got along great and I wish Mary was my neighbor so every day we could all hang out like this:)

 We took everyone on a walk.

Mary shared her lap with two children (and one in utero!) and Angelina shared her baby doll with Drew, who promptly threw it on the floor.

It was so much fun hanging out with my two dearest and oldest friends. It was definitely more chaotic than years past with 3 kids but we had such a great time and I miss them already!